1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of speech recognition and similar technologies, and in particular to software and devices that perform speech recognition functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, people have access to an increasing array of sources of information. People listen to radio broadcasts in their automobiles as they commute to work. People watch television programs delivered in a number of different broadcasting formats. In much the same manner, people watch and listen to streaming audio and video content on a portable communications device such as a mobile phone. An emerging technology for information distribution that is gaining popularity is so-called “pod-casting”, wherein an audio or video program is downloaded to a portable electronic device and played back at the user's convenience.
These various methods of distributing information have at least one thing in common. Information is conveyed to the listener or viewer, in part, by way of an audio signal that is comprised primarily of spoken words. There are occasions when the listener or viewer wants to preserve a portion of the information in the audio signal for later reference but is unable to do so at that time. For example, a person may be listening to a radio program while driving to work in an automobile. That person may hear something to which they would like to refer at a later time, such as a website address, but cannot write it down because it would be unsafe to do so.
As more and more information is digested on-the-go with the use of mobile electronic devices, there will be more occasions where a listener will find it inconvenient or impossible to make a permanent record of information (e.g. write down) in an audio signal for later reference. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method of quickly capturing and preserving speech-based information in an audio signal in one device and transmitting it to another device at a later time for use by the listener.